New Finds: Pilot V5, Pilot DR & Uni Pin Fine Line

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Here we have a couple of very interesting new finds discovered recently while shopping.

First up is a new range of Pilot V pens, the 5mm and 7mm variants, but these are new refillable pens, fantastic! I have always wondered why Pilot, didn't already do cartridge refill pens in the V series, now here they are. I'm still to try these out, but I'm sure they will probably write very much like the disposable version, price point look with little research to be about twice the standard price of disposable versions, which is OK i guess for a refill pen. Personally I think Pilot are missing out here, why not instead or as well, make a slightly more premium version of the V series pens that are refillable, I think more people would invest the extra money in something that will more likely last, a steel version or something similar. After all, the refill pen looks to be exactly the same as standard disposable, while the standard pen does last well till ink runs out, I wonder if the refill version will last 4 times as long. But all in all a nice development, this may well push me over to Pilot V series pens for every day use, shame the full range of colours doesn't seem to have been released, a small critique but may well be the decider for some.

Next are a couple of pens from Pilot and Uni. For those regular readers you probably already know that I am a fan of drawing pens, any and all sorts, pencils too, and pastels as well, basically any art implements. But my favorite are definitely drawing pens, technical pens some call them, usually these are form the classic manufactures of art consumables, as well as some Asian makers, Zig etc. and usually are hard to come by, if not nigh on impossible, unless you frequent art supplies shops, which usually charge a premium for stocking these.
Well here we have two new pens from Pilot and Uni, found at Asda (WalMart for our American friends), both of which are marketed as drawing pens, the difference between these and the normal variants being they come filled with pigment ink, which is naturally water and light resistant, meaning the line last longer when on display, an obvious importance when we are creating artworks, they are both sold for technical drawing/drafting purposes, but I'm sure they are perfectly acceptable for drawing in the artistic sense of the word.
The Pilot pen comes as a single pen per pack, I've already done a review post of the non-drawing version of the pen in an earlier post, have a look back as there is also some artwork created by me using the V5 Hi-Tec point pen. No doubt there will be varying nib widths of the pen, but on display was only the 03.
Second up is the Uni Pin fine line set of 5 pens, again filled with pigment ink, with a nice selection of nib widths in the pack, from 0.1 to 0.8, a really useful starter set for budding artists like me, these are also available in other colours, blue, dark blue, red, green, black, yellow/orange and purple. These seem very interesting pens to me, suiting my art and drawing style and I'm sure to be getting some of these soon, probably in all colours available. Watch out for a review as soon as I do.
One last note, the Uni pen pack of 5 was less than twice the price of the single Pilot pen, why I'm not sure, both brands are on a par in terms of quality and respectability, so I can only assume that the Uni pack is very reasonable.

Lamy Safari White Medium nib

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Here we have my newest addition to the pen addiction/collection/habit, a Lamy Safari fountain pen.

I'm sure many people know these pens, probably many owners reading this blog too, but this is my first Safari, I have owned Lamy pens before (now sadly lost over the years) but never a Safari, guess I've been a late arrival to the fan club. This is my daily user at present, as is usual with any new pen I get.

I tend to use my newest pen for a while, at least till the cartridge/refill runs out then move on to the newest pen or go out on a mission and buy a new pen, but with the Safari I have actually bought refill ink cartridges to keep it as a daily user, I guess that must say something for this pen, what though I will not commit to.

Obviously it's a white model with a medium nib, I've never actually seen a new Safari supplied with anything other a medium nib, anyone else? I know fine, broad and I believe italic replacement nibs are also available, but for now I'll stick with what it comes, whilst I like fine writers I'm not very good (read delicate/careful) with them so I find it best to avoid them, although lately I am finding myself becoming more and more drawn to a fine nib, especially for pocket notebooks, i like the idea of filling a page with fine, neat and small writing, this usually only last a few lines or days until i become lazy and slipshod.

The pen has a reassuringly firm feel to the pocket clip and capping responds with a discernible, if not audible, click. They are a very popular pen so I have high expectations of its robustness and life expectancy. 

Test time! So we can see that even though this test paper (the same one I use for all my pen tests) is very fibrous, not as smooth as normal writing or copier paper, the line put down by the pen does not bleed at all, surprised me! The nib does not pick up any fibers and exhibit dragged feathering like some do, I can only put this down to the nib split being very fine and tight, a good sign in any fountain pen.

Here is the nib in question, you can see the M to denote the nib width, medium in this case, notice also the slight raised collar around the base of the nib/barrel connection, this is the "clicky" mechanism that secures the pen top to pen barrel. At first i was dubious whether the smooth finger indentations would actually produce enough grip to be secure, but after continued use and various writing situations they do they job surprisingly well. The ink deposits you see have been there since the very first ink was run through the pen, in this case Lamy original purple, at first I was concerned that this would be one of those pens that deposited a lot of ink in the cap when they have traveled, in a bag, pocket, side of a book walking around, but on reflection its obvious that even with all the movement and bag carrying this pen has been through that it is actually a very good performer in that respect. If anyone has any other thoughts on that subject please do let me know, use the comments section down below.

As you can see, the cap interior does show ink traces, some of which must have come from the nib splashing while being transported, but hardly enough to cause concern or to class the pen as leaky. All in all I'm very pleased with its performance as a travelling pen, I may well give it a thorough test when we go on holiday in a couple of months, from which I will also being doing another Spanish stationery shop haul, so keep checking back for updates on some (hopefully) interesting finds.

The Lamy cartridge, inserted and in operation, is one of the larger/longer variety, not yhe Euro cartridge, this tends to be more common in European made pens and those that are classed as school/learner fountain pens. I have a slight preference for the Euro cartridge, purely because they are more widely available in non-stationery shops, having said that the fact hey use Lamy specific cartridges is not a problem, after all most pen makers do use some sort or variation of their own specific cartridge form. Notice also the aperture in the barrel of the pen.

Here is a close up of the aperture; apologies for the blur, my camera is not macro equipped, a useful feature enabling viewing of the cartridge in use to judge who close to empty the cartridge is, it means you will not have to carry a spare around with you all the time, or be for ever undoing the barrel to check levels, handy for an everyday pen, and at just the right level to give you a fair amount of ink left, yet still be close enough to empty and need to have new cartridge around.
In conclusion, my first Lamy Safari has been a very positive experience, is it my favourite pen and can I see where the big following comes from? I'm not sure yo be honest, I'm sure for some people its the perfect pen and no other will do, for me, I'm undecided as yet, I can see the plus points and the good points, only time and further use will tell if I find it as perfect a notebook pen as others do.

Cross ATX Pure Chrome ballpoint

Here we have the Cross ATX ball pen, as far as i am aware, they only do this model ballpen, there are of course pencil versions available in the ATX range as is usual with Cross model lines. This model is the standard Chrome finish, again they only did this finish in this model

And here is the test, as you would expect form a ballpoint the line is very precise and even, of course with all Cross pens it does not exhibit any skipping as can present with some ballpoints. The ink is, typically for a Cross, rather light from my personal preference, but having said that it is perfectly legible and dark enough for most people and their needs.
The pen has a very definite weight in the hand and could be tiresome for extended periods of writing for those with smaller hands, I have also found that extended writing activates the twist action, over time while writing (just a few minutes I find) the writing nib retracts into the pen barrel, meaning every few lines I have to stop and re-twist the barrel to extend the nib, my wife doesn't have this problem at all when she uses it, so it must just be me, but perhaps something to look out for if you have larger hands.
The pen itself seems to be a favorite for the corporate gift and present market as it has a large surface are for engraving, taking deep and defined engraving very well.

Of course there is no smudging, it's a ballpoint after all, although I am aware some ballpoints form the cheaper end of the market can & do smudge very badly, these tend to be very "wet" writing pens and are to be avoided, unless you like a "wet" pen, and you are a neater writer than me of course.

I am using the standard Cross ballpoint refill, to be hones the refills for Cross pens are so reasonable there is not much benefit trying to find an aftermarket/3rd party refill for most cross pens, the fountain pen refills are also very reasonable. This is the standard size refill that fits many pens throughout the Cross range, some pens need the removal of the plastic knurl at the top of the refill you can see in the photo, a very simple job to do, it just pulls off.
The plastic knurl is needed for all pens that have a twist to extend action, the super fine pen that Cross makes takes this refill too, it's a very popular pen that is often marketed as a ladies pen, which is a bit unfair as I think it makes the perfect suit pen, very light and easy to carry without making too much bulge or drag on a suit jacket.

As you can see the refill screws into the lower part of the barrel the twist action actually working the black collar ring you can see in the photo, that's where the thread son the black knurl come in to action.

Here we can see the nib extended, as you can see the extension is not huge, meaning the pen writes very much like you see it, and manages to stand up to a lot of abuse for those who are very hard pressing writers, some ballpoints have a very long extension which can lead to trouble for the heavier writer, it also means that it can write very quickly and feels very assured and robust in the hand.
All in all it's a very nice pen, let down (for me and my use) by the annoying retraction habit it exhibits while writing, but other than that, give it a try, as an everyday pen it's hard to beat, or even as a nice gift for yourself or someone else.